Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Some quotes from the Dick Kaegel article when Hillman was announced as manager of the Royals in Oct of 2007.

"Hillman said he'd bring some of the lessons learned in his Japan experience to the Royals, just as he took lessons learned in 12 years of managing in the New York Yankees' Minor League system to Japan. Some of it meshes, some of it doesn't." Looks like Trey has not figured out what meshes and what doesn't.

"He has a slogan that he likes to use: "A-A-O -- Adapt-Adjust-Overcome." We are still waiting for this one.

"It all depends on what you believe is Major League baseball. In my humble opinion, I've been a Major League manager for the last five years. We get after it in Japan," he said. "On many levels and on any given day the quality of play, I believe, is as good as it is here in the United States at the Major League level." Based on this quote he comes to the Royals with 5 years of "Major League" experience. After 2 years with the Royals, does he look like he has 5 years prior experience?

"I like to create movement on the bases, I think it creates pressure to the opposition. I like the home run and the double as much as much as anybody, but I think you have to be ready to diversify and create other opportunities." The only movement on the bases is the movement of the opposing team when our fielders make costly errors or the bullpen blows the game.

"I can give you my priorities," he said. "Pitch it, catch it. We'll figure out a way to score runs." We are still waiting for results on this statement. Of course, I am not sure if we can give him credit for Zack's performance this year. I think what we saw from Zack was inevitable regardless of who the manager is.

After 2 years with the Royals, has he really progressed as a major league manager and does he earn the chance to finish out his contract? I don't think so.